


Compounding Factors

by SuperPharmCharm



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Nightwing (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Robin (Comics), Super Sons (Comics)
Genre: Gang Violence, Human Experimentation, Human Trafficking, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Jason Todd Has Issues, Magic-Users, Police Officer Dick Grayson, tim drake needs to lay off the coffee
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:07:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23387842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperPharmCharm/pseuds/SuperPharmCharm
Summary: Vice (Eva Valcamp) swore to herself after the death of her brothers (Virtue and Victory) she would never wear a mask again.  She should've known shit would hit the fan after drawing the Five of Pentacles and the Devil card in the same reading.When Nightwing shows up asking her to take on a job with him and his brothers, she must make a choice. Does she go back in headfirst or shy away from the challenge?
Kudos: 1





	Compounding Factors

**Author's Note:**

> Note: Mention of gun violence as well as Human/Sex trafficking. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it. 
> 
> Please let me know if you find any errors in writing.

Seven months Prior  
BLUDHAVEN 2019

Dick had given the order to wait. Victory heeded his warning, unlike Vice and Virtue, who dropped into the drug dealers den.

The younger two were impulsive; he learned that the hard way. Vice was quick on her feet, dodging bullets and firing her shots. Rubber bullets. At least she had listened when he said no lethal force.

Victory had jumped after his brother and sister. He was throwing all caution to the wind. Nightwing jumped after him swearing and pulling his escrima sticks out during the fall. The taser was on, quickly he dodged a swing and shot while his stick made contact with a goons face. 

Things seemed to be going well. They had taken several of the gangsters down when the sound of gunshots, lead bullets, echoed off the walls. They all found their way to Victory's chest; he slammed into the floor, unmoving, dead in an instant. 

"COREY!" Vice's shrill scream came. Vice dropped her clip and pushed in a new one. More shots, from her she was using actual bullets. Virtue pulled around, taking blows left and right; he was trying to keep steady. Trying to keep fighting even if he had watched his brother killed before him. Then finally a gunshot to his temple, Dick didn't know what gun it came from, Vices or a goon.

Even a good hero knew when it was time to run. Dick knew he and Vice wouldn't make it much longer. It had taken everything in Dick's power to get both him and Vice out alive. At the end of it all, Vice had lost both her brothers and ended up with scars even Dick wasn't sure would heal.  
\---  
BLUDHAVEN 2020

It had been less than an hour. AN HOUR! Since her brother in law had unlocked the doors for business. 

The last place she wanted her face was in the carpet of the small pharmacy Ian, her favorite and only brother in law had bought a few months ago.

The day had started normally, a few patients, a few RX's for antibiotics, and one for a pain med for an older woman on hospice. Then they walked in. Nightwing had always said the prime time for crime in Haven was in the early morning. Sadly, he wasn't wrong. 

Guns pulled ski masks over their faces. Eva's mind went straight to panic mode. Not for herself, but Ian, she wasn't sure she could watch another family member die. 

Most of the pharmacies in Bludhaven had closed shop or had moved into the nicer part of town. Ian had smiled when he and Marc had come to her with the idea. Ian had been working with a few drug companies and suppliers; in doing so had been able to get the price of medications super cheap. The pharmacy would be an excellent resource for older people and the less fortunate in Bludhaven. 

Eva could think of better ideas. She could think of worse ones too. 

Ian had always been about helping people any way he could. He trusted her to work alongside him as tech, that spoke volumes on his trust in her. One mistake from her could cost him the degree he went to school for years for. 

And since her old job was no longer an option, she decided it was better than sitting around the house. Better than plotting revenge against the masked freaks in this godforsaken town. 

Those choices got her here; a Glock 19 pressed into her skull. She watched as Ian fumbled to get the safe open. The keys rattled in his hands. One the robbers had his gun on him; poor Ian, he hadn't been in a situation like this before. She could tell he was scared. She knew nothing she could say would ease his fear, but she could at least try. 

"Ian, steady."She had faced assholes at gunpoint; these dickheads didn't scare her at all. "It will be okay." 

"Shut up!" the robber grunted, she felt the metal dig into her hair even further. 

Ian dropped the keys and moved to fast to grab them. A shot fired, the goon holding the gun on Ian had shot, he slumped forward. 

Eva flinched beneath the gun held her on her. Panic settling in her stomach, Ian grunted. Still alive, not a fatal hit. She saw his hands to go the keys and finally was able to get the safe open. He wasn't shaking anymore, was he losing too much blood? Was he going to bleed out? The goon who had shot Ian started to pull opioids from the safe and toss them into a massive black duffle bag. 

Ian finally made his way to lay on the floor; she kept her steel eyes trained on his chest. Watching it rise and fall. She wasn't 100 percent sure where the gunshot wound was. He was breathing, albeit it was belly breathing. Still alive, she repeated over and over in her mind. She could see his lips moving but couldn't make out his words.   
\---  
"Ma'am, can you hear me?" The voice was familiar, and she didn't like it. 

Finally, Eva looked up, meeting the eyes of the cop; somehow, she was longer inside the small pharmacy. 

"Where's Ian?" she forced out. Her voice sounded weak. "Is he?" 

"No, Mr. Valcamp isn't dead if that's what your next question was." The cop gave her a dazzling smile. "He's alive, put up a hell of a fight when you quit responding. Screaming about shock and PTSD." He, at least, looked a little ashamed at his last few words. "Could hardly get him loaded into the EMS Van." 

She looked at his nameplate, R. Grayson. Bludhaven PD. "Fucking asshole," she muttered under her breath. 

Grayson looked taken back for a moment, "Who me, or..." 

"No, not you, my brother in law" She snapped. She raked her hands through her hair, swearing under her breath. "I can't lose any more family. Not after Corey and Jacob." She didn't notice the look Grayson gave her; she had shifted her eyes towards the car in the parking lot. Ian's car. "I want to go home." 

"Let me take you home." 

"No, thanks, but I can manage to get there," the echos from that night were loud in her mind. She didn't see the look he gave her or the sudden flash of recognition across his face. 

"Vice...." His voice was suddenly low and cold "I'm taking you home." His smile was still firmly on his face. However, she could tell he wasn't comfortable. 

"What did you just call me," she questioned angrily. 

"You know what I called you, now get in the car." She felt R. Grayson gently take her arm and pull her up and lead her over to a patrol car. He opened the door, and against her better judgment, she got in. 

The whole car ride to the apartment, she stayed in her head, relieving that night.

She was wondering about other things too. R.Grayson hadn't asked her about the crime if she saw faces or anything that would help solve the case.

Did she make the 911 call or had Ian? There was time missing she couldn't account for, and she hated it. 

When he pulled up in front of the apartment building, he finally broke the silence that hung in the air. 

"Vice, are you okay?" He asked her. "Can I call you something other than Vice?" 

"I am not," She remarked angrily, "My name is Eva, and how the fuck did you know who I was?" 

"I remember your voice. I'm sorry about what happened with your brothers." 

She groaned; of course, Nightwing would be on the police force.   
"Am I free to leave, or do you got questions?" 

"If I have questions. would you answer them?"

"Depends."

"On what?" his voice was calm. Eva imagined being the oldest of 4 brothers gave you a high tolerance for any bullshit that might come your way.

"What you ask me."  
\--------

"Fine, we'll talk upstairs." she snapped. 

That's all it took. Dick had gotten both him and her out of this patrol car and followed the lavender haired girl into the apartment building. She walked up a flight of stairs, him close on her heels. She walked towards the end of the hall, pulling out a set of keys from her scrub pocket. 

Her hands shook as she managed to get the key into the door and unlock it. At this point, it was a miracle she was still alive. Let alone being up, walking, and talking. Dick wasn't sure if he would be somewhat functional if he had seen his brothers gunned down, then dealt with being robbed and witnessed another family member being shot. 

She opened the door and walked in, stepping to the side to allow him inside the apartment. His eyes swept over the living space as he walked inside. It wasn't huge, but it wasn't miserably small inside. The furniture was at a minimum: a sofa and a coffee table, a few chairs sitting at the kitchen bar. There were no photos on the walls, everything had a place, but nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. 

"It's so neat and tidy," Dick remarked as she shut the door and locked it behind her. He watched her lips move, but no sound came out, he swore the lock started to glow for a moment. "OCD?" 

"No, my brother is a surgeon and doesn't like a mess of any kind," Eva growled at him. "He avoids my room like its a war zone, don't know how Ian stands it."

She walked into the kitchen, pulling open a cabinet. A glass found its way into her hands, and suddenly it was full of a red liquid. "If you have questions, start asking before I kick you out." If she noticed the bewildered look on his face, she chose to ignore it. 

"How did you do that?" Dick gestured to her cup. 

Eva looked down at her cup and back up at him. She cursed herself under her breath. "Don't worry about it. What questions do you have Nightwing, or do you prefer R. Grayson?"

"Richard, but you can call me Dick if you like." 

"Dick, that's the name you go by?" She raised her eyebrow. "I can't imagine all the shit you get for that. Your brothers let you live that name down?" 

"I don't mind it, I've heard every possible joke about my name. They all roll with it. It makes it harder for them to insult me. What's your name, Vice?" He kept his voice neutral. 

"Eva Valcamp seems fair you know my last name now since I know your name." She didn't like it; she had never wanted Nightwing or the bats to her know her name.

"Thanks for that, I guess. So are you fully retired from the mask life?" Dick choose his words carefully. He had been trying to find Vice or weeks, and bumping into her now was fate itself intervening. 

"Why are you asking?" she growled, her grip around the glass tightening. She shifted against the countertop. 

"From our last job, only a few of them got sent off to jail. I think that gang is running more than drugs now. It would be helpful to have someone at my side to help." 

"More than drugs?" she mumbled. 

Dick was blunt. "Women, possibly children." He hoped he was wrong; drug trafficking to human trafficking was a big jump for gangsters like them.

"Sex trafficking? Or just general human trafficking, for organs and shit?" Eva raised the glass to her lips and downed the rest of the wine in it. 

"I don't know, but the victims lend more towards the first option. I have a few of my brothers helping with this, but they aren't women and aren't going to be very trusting of us." 

"So, you want my help because I'm a woman?" She asked angrily; she placed the glass down on the countertop. 

"That, and you're a damn good mask, could use some extra backup." 

"How long do I have to think about it?" 

Dick laid his card with his cell number on the table. "Call me tomorrow?" 

"Sure thing, Wing, now get out of my house." 

Dick left the apartment quickly, hoping he would hear from her soon.


End file.
